This weekend Terry will pay tribute to the late great Joanna Macy, who passed away recently on the 19th July aged 96. She was an environmental activist, author and scholar of Buddhism, general systems theory and deep ecology.

One of the Guiding Principles of St Mary’s in Exile is the quote from the prophet Micah,( 6:8), To act justly, love tenderly and walk humbly with your God. Margaret will reflect on this quote in light of Richard Rohr’s latest book, The Tears of Things, which addresses the question of how do we live compassionately in a time of violence and despair?

The reading from John’s Gospel about the vine and the branches reminds us that Jesus is the true vine from whom we learn how to live authentic and abundant lives of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and, thus, transform ourselves and our world.

Heather is inviting us to contemplate how transformation and courage can spring afresh for us in these troubling times of global chaos. These reflections are like tealight candles: little reminders of the fire you already carry—the love that lives deep in your bones.

Our community is very special in many ways. One of these is the way that so many have stepped up to help as Terry moves into his well-deserved retirement. Fortunately, he will remain an important part of our community and he will be mentoring the people who are taking over some of his roles.

Terry, our Leader of 14 years retired last week. We wish him a retirement full of the things he loves to do. And we are confident that one of these things will be coming to celebrate liturgy here with us at the TLC. This week we celebrate his contribution.

Communal grieving allows us to metabolize our grief in a way that we can’t access when we grieve alone, in a way that our ancestors knew, that our bones recall.

What did Jesus mean when he said: "Is it not written in your law, that l have said that you are Gods" John 10:13: And of course, there is "Be still and know that I am God". What aspect of ourself is Spiritual and Godly?

This week we will be hearing what it like to be a refugee from people from over 10 different countries. Some are recent arrivals to the US. Others have been in the US for most of their lives. Together, their stories form an intimate portrait of what it means to be a Refugee.